California District Council Report, Number
20, Fall, 2001, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia

Translation of article from German to English by
Richard Kisling, Editor

The 50-year history of the Landsmannschaft der
Deutschen aus Russland, Stuttgart, Germany, spans almost the entire
post-war era. The following are excerpts from their anniversary
book, Heimat und Diaspora ("Homeland and Diaspora"), by
Johann Kampen and his son, Hans Kampen, 2001.

Stalin (1929 - 1953)

In 1950, the Germans in Russia dont dare think of their
future. With the exception of those who already fled to the West,
they are all situated in the regions to which they were banished
forever, according to the August 28, 1941 decree of the Supreme
Soviet.

1951. The Germans in the USSR stay under military command, are
cut off from the world, and with few exceptions carry out forced
labor. Pay of 650 rubles is considered good, though a bicycle costs
500 rubles. Upon marrying, women in many places are forced to keep
their maiden names so they cant go underground.

1952. For the Germans in the Soviet Union, Stalin and Beria are
the epitome of evil. German oil specialists are permitted to follow
their professions outside their regions of resettlement, in the
Bashkir and Tatar ASSRs.

1953. After Stalins death, German Russians hope for some
relief, though many fear that a worse dictator could follow. The
Germans remain the stepchildren of the USSR, the Germans the world
knows nothing about. The military command is not abolished.

Krushchev (1958 - 1964)

1954. The Germans in the USSR fall deeper into oblivion, as the
world becomes fixated on the power struggle in the Kremlin, out
of which Krushchev would be victorious. In the collectives, the
screws are loosened a little bit.

1955. No one hears what was said about the German Russians in Moscow.
The German-language newspaper Arbeit [labor] appears
in Barnaul on December 5. The military command is abolished on December
13 by decree of the Supreme Soviet, though this is implemented differently
region by region.

1956. The Germans in the USSR, along with other peoples in the USSR,
desire some kind of thaw. The military command is actually abolished.
The first deported German Russians make an effort to immigrate and
some are arrested. During the course of the year, 923 are allowed
to leave.

1957. People learn that the German Russians and the Crimean Tatars
are not mentioned in Krushchevs secret speech
of February 1956. The German-language newspaper Neues Leben appears
on May 1 [in Moscow]. Maria Vogel [Alfred Schnittkes mother]
is the only German employee.

1958. The German Russians take some hope from an agreement with
the Red Cross on April 8. The Volga Germans and the Germans from
Ukraine both learn that their homelands are no longer their homelands.
Everyone is seeking salvation in southern Kazakhstan.

1959. According to the census, there are 1,619,000 citizens of
German nationality in the Soviet Union, or about the same number
as in 1939, even though the overall population grew by 22% during
the same time. On April 24, the German-Soviet agreement on family
unification is signed; exit applications are generally denied by
the Soviet authorities.

1960. Contact through the mail between German Russians in the Soviet
Union and their countrymen abroad is at a low point; we learn very
little: a cow costs 3,000 rubles; a piglet, 150; a chicken, 30 rubles.
News leaks out from Orenburg about an unusually high number of cancer
cases, and it is said that many women in Karaganda find out about
the posthumous rehabilitation of their husbands who were executed
in 1937-1938.

1961. The state of the mother tongue deteriorates increasingly
among Germans who are scattered across the USSR. Assimilation, and
the mutilation of the language proceed unimpeded. A few enthusiasts
attempt to rescue it: the German teachers, actors and writers, whose
> heyday begins in 1963 or later.

1962. Neues Leben piles on the reports about record-breaking milkmaids,
cow breeders, exemplary miners, crane operators or tractor drivers.
More and more German names appear in books of recognition and plaques
of honor. In Tscherepotz (N. Russia), an egg costs 20 kopecks; half
a liter of vodka, 2.86 rubles; workers earn 35 kopecks an hour.

1963. German Russians and German speakers in the USSR write again,
as before the war, These writers are among the first who can write,
and do more than put it in a drawer.

1964. On August 29, the Praesidium of the Supreme Soviet cancels
the part of the deportation order of August 28, 1941, which contains
the wholesale condemnation of the Volga Germans, but declares that
> the German Russians must remain in the regions of Siberia,
Kazakhstan, etc., where they now live and are integrated.

Brezhnev (1964 - 1982)

1965. The war against religion that Lenin initiated is expanded
by his successors, but people themselves resist the directives against
religion. Christians  both Germans and others  secretly
gather themselves into congregations. In Chortitza, the old
colony of Mennonites in Ukraine forms a new 400-member Protestant
congregation.

1966. There are approximately 500,000 Baptists in the Soviet Union
and they hold a congress in Moscow. The average salary of a Soviet
worker is 54 kopecks, or about 2.40 German Marks; their counterparts
in the USA make 10.56 German Marks on average, and those in Germany,
4.16 German Marks.

1967. A report about the city of Engels appears in Neues Leben.
The former capitol of the Volga German ASSR is now connected with
Saratov by a bridge. People are proud of the Germans contributions
to the success of the city, but returning there from Kazakhstan
is out of the question.

1968. In the USSR, a commission for Soviet German literature is
formed, to which Dymschitz, Gorbachew (not the later president of
the USSR), Hollmann, Klein and Warkentin belong. The first graduates
of the teachers college in Alma Ata are reported about. The German
ensemble Freundschaft is formed in Karaganda.

1969. The efforts of Germans to leave is turned down on the basis
that they are necessary for the development of Kazakhstan! Their
link to each other was to be Freundschaft, the newspaper that over
the course of succeeding years had more and more problems with the
> German language due to a lack of skilled workers. Forty thousand
Germans live in Alma Ata, out of a population of 670,000.

1970. The number of Germans in the Soviet Union is reported to
rise to 1.89 million. This puts them 13th among the 92 nationalities
in the Soviet Union. Neues Leben prints letters from readers complaining
about the lack of German books. At the same time, Freundschaft continually
prints portraits of Heroes of Socialist Labor.

1971. A lively religions life develops in Karaganda, both among
Protestants and Catholics, as well as Jehovahs Witnesses,
Baptists, Adventists, and others. One gets the impression that they
want to develop ministers and teachers.

1972. In Kyrgystan, Prelate Anton Köhler celebrates his 50-year
jubilee as a priest. In Orenburg, German leaders are trained for
song, dance, theater, libraries and houses of culture. There are
also reports from Kazakhstan about the successes of German language
teachers, for example Emma Bayer in Tschimkent.

1973. On February 25, twelve German Russians who attempt to demonstrate
for their emigration in front of the German embassy are arrested.
A decree from the Praesidium of the Supreme Soviet, lifting the
restrictions on places of residence for the Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians,
Armenians and others, is not published.

1974. In February, German Russians are arrested again in front of
the German embassy in Moscow, for demonstrating for emigration rights.
German Russians also demonstrate in Estonia and Latvia. In September,
former teachers and students from the (Volga Republics) pedagogical
institute meet in Marxstadt in the Volga Region. They establish
that 15  30 German families are living in some villages, again.
In Frank, there are 96 such families.

1975. Erich Abel, a German Russian, is sentenced to 3 years imprisonment
for wanting to emigrate. In April, 7,000 people in the work camp
in Perm sign a Cry for Help, and secretly send it to
the West. In Eispute, Estonia, Janis Smit is punished with a wage
reduction and various restrictions for having young people in the
church choir and for offering a prayer for prisoners.

1976. At the turn of the year 1975/1976, the Soviet Interior Ministry
announces simplification of emigration requirements. In Kyrgystan,
54 German families with 294 members turn to German Chancellor Schmidt,
German President Scheel, Secretary General of the UN Waldheim and
the World Council of Churches, asking for help.

1977. Another letter from Kyrgystan with a further 1,800 signatures
of German Russians who are ready to emigrate is sent to Breshnev,
and is smuggled to Carter and to the Landsmannschaft. Nine German
Russians attempt to speak with the German Ambassador in Moscow,
but are imprisoned for 15 days then returned to their homes in Takmak,
Kyrgystan.

1978. After Breshnevs visit [to Bonn in May], people hope
that the emigration numbers will go up. Those without relatives
already in Germany have great difficulty in emigrating. Among those
especially affected are the Volga Germans and those living in the
Asiatic part of the USSR.

1979. German Russians wanting to emigrate come to be understood
by the Soviets as a human rights movement. The Secretariat and the
courts take the course between repressive actions and loosening
up. In October 101 emigration seekers turn to German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl and the Pope for help.

1980. Emigration-seeking German Russians complain about the very
slow handling of their applications by authorities in Moscow and
in the republics. The Novisti publishes an overview
of the German newspapers and publishing houses in the USSR. In first
> position are Freundschaft in Alma-Ata, with 20,000 copies,
and the publishing house Kasachstan, with 15 books a
year.

1981. Soviet Germans become increasingly aware that they are not
entitled to any minority rights, at the same time that the Soviet
Union vehemently supports minorities in Africa and South America.
Lists of arrested German Russians are circulated to the West through
special channels that are created.

1982. The uncertainty of the Germans in the Soviet Union continues.
In Susanovo, Orenburg Region, Baptists complain that even though
the building of their church is financed by them, huge obstacles
are put in their way. A point of light shines in Kyrgystan where
Prelate Köhler celebrates his 60th year as a priest.

Andropov (1982 - 1984)

1983. Three German Russians who hijacked a plane are sentenced to
long prison terms. In many OWIRs, emigration-seeking Germans no
longer address each other as Comrade, but as Citizen.
A demonstration of 100 Germans is put down by the military.

Chernenko (1984 - 1985)

1984. The Soviet Unions allows 4,000  5,000 German Russians
to emigrate to East Germany. Among the 1,500 delegates elected to
the Supreme Soviet are the Soviet Germans Natalia Geller, age 31;
Svetlana Zwock, 25; Sophie Jabs, 26; Friedrich Schneider, 58. In
May, Peter Peters was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for religious
propaganda. On July 1, the Soviet Union intensified the regulations
and procedures for foreign visitors.

Gorbachev (1985 - 1991)

1985. The most important event of the year for the world, for the
USSR, for Germany and for the German Russians, is the election of
Mikhail Gorbachev as Chairman of the Communist Party. One of the
first outcomes of this change in the Kremlin for the German Russians,
is a long article in Novosti, which recognizes the significant
achievements of the German Russians since the October Revolution.

1986. On September 19, the human rights champion Andrei Sakharov,
who had repeatedly supported the German Russians, is permitted to
leave Gorki, the place of his exile. The historian Malinovinksi,
speaks of the progressive assimilation of the German Russians, which
will be complete in several decades.

1987. German President Weizäcker meets German Russians in Moscow,
Leningrad and Novosibirsk. Kazakhstans Supreme Soviet deals
self-critically with the state of the German mother tongue in that
countrys schools.

1988. The Soviet German newspapers print letters from readers who
are becoming increasingly critical of the status of their ethnic
group and their language. The Second Moscow TV Station broadcasts
coverage of German Russians. In June, 20 theologians from Westphalia
visit congregations in Kazakhstan. Among these are Dr. Strickel,
Pfarrer Springer and others.

1989. Rumors about the re-establishment of German autonomy on the
Volga reach their peak after the founding of the German-Russian
Wiedergeburt in Moscow.

1990. Gorbachev dampens the German Russians hopes for autonomy
when he says in Nishnyi Tagil: Today other people live in
the region where there was once German autonomy. We cannot solve
one problem and create another.

1991. At its congress in March, the Soviet German Wiedergeburt
symbolically declares The German Autonomous Socialist Soviet
Republic. On January 1, the German-language newspaper Freundschaft
in Alma Ata is renamed Deutsche Allgemeine, and Rote
Fahne in Slavgorad is renamed Zeitung für dich.

Yeltsin (1992  1999)

1992. In January, President Boris Yeltsin offered the following
responsible explanation about the barriers to autonomy
to its supporters: Where there is no center of gravity of
Volga German population, one cannot speak about autonomy. Another
problem is the rocket-testing ground in the Volgograd region. Perhaps
some region can be created further in the future, but only if the
Germans make up at least 90% of the population.

1993. Initiatives from the Crime, East Prussia, Krasnoyarsk, Kiev,
Engels, St. Petersburg and other states of the CIS are announced.
In Turkmenistan, U Saparov shoots a film Engelchen mach Freude [sLittle
Angel, Make me Happy] about the fate of German children whose
parents were lost in oblivion. The leader of the Soviet German Wiedergeburt,
Heinrich Groths, resigns. In Omsk, Vladimir Bauer wins election
to the Duma, as a candidate from the right.

1994. Justifiable doubt arises about the seriousness of the President
of Ukraines announcement that he would take 400,000 Germans
into the southern part of his country. In August, Neues Leben declared
flatly: the project had fallen through. In the summer, many German
> Russians visit the region, even Americans of Black Sea descent.

1995. Early in the year, the exhibition History and Works
of the Germans in Odessa and the Black Sea Region is shown.
It is conceptualized for the 200th anniversary celebration of the
city and is later shown in Germany. Scholars from Germany and Russia
meet in Moscow to draw up a German Russian encyclopedia.

1996. The German Russians, who make up a large part of the population
only in Kazakhstan and in Russia stream in masses into Germany,
even if this movement is declining. At years end, there is
a total of 172,181 returnees. Only after a few of them pondered
their destiny: Stay or move and decided to stay as long
as there is still hope for a better future.

1997. In Strelna, 200 settlers move into the historic district
of St. Petersburg. In Halbstadt, Michailovski and Slavgorod (all
in Altai), the Bonn government helps by renovating and building
German meeting centers; and in Moscow, German President Roman Herzog
opens the German Russian House as a place where Germans and Russians
can come together.

1998. Eighty years after the founding of the Autonomous Volga German
Region on October 19, 1918, the main themeamong German Russians
who remain in the CIS is emigration to Germany, and the language
test that goes along with it. The media in the CIS attempt to communicate
the impression that German Russians are welcome, at least in the
Russian Federation, something that really cannot be believed, since
only 43% of those who return to Russia say they feel at home.

1999. Hugo Wormsbecher, one of the German Russians best
speakers in Moscow, sees the future possibility for German Russians
to live united in a region only in the Russian Federation. For the
Germans living in other states of the CIS, Wormsbecher believes
that the priority will be the protection of basis living conditions.

Putin (2000)

2000. German Russians dont wait to see what the Russian
President will promise them, or that politics and bureaucracy will
demand of them. Rather, they continue to emigrate to German at a
steady rate.

Our thanks to Richard Kisling and the CDC Reporter Newsletter
for permission to reprint this article.

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